Native shelters

• Tipi

  • Had a frame of wooden poles

  • The skins of animals such as buffalo (bison)were sewn together to make a covering for the frames

  • The tip of the tipi could be adjusted to open a hole this allowed smoke from fire to escape

   
• Wigwam

  • provided a home for one or more families

  • The outer covering was made from animal skins or tree bark with spruce or willow saplings.

  • In the winter extra layers of covering were added for insulation

  • The floor was bare earth

  • In winter straw mats and animal skins were placed on the floor to keep the home warm

   
• Longhouse

  •Large shelter shared by several families

  • were longer than they were wide

  •had doors at both ends. • There were no windows,

  as a result, the inside was fairly dark, lit only by the flickering light of the fires

     
• Snow Dome

    

      

  •Traditional Arctic snow dome.

  •The hut is tightly sealed with a series

  of snow blocks; a lamp is lit on the

  inside.

  • The heat from the candle melts the

  inside face of the snow blocks, as cold air comes in and out of the entrance the snow turns to ice so that the structure is no longer a snow house but a house of ice.

  • Not used so much anymore except for remote hunting.
• Plankhouses of the Pacific Northwest

      • In the Pacific Northwest region, the plankhouse was the traditional form of architecture of the indigenous people

     • made of red cedar- a sacred, living being, even after having been cut from the trees

  • each house had a name and identity

  • sometimes had mural paintings on the

  front

  • Some houses had posts displaying the lineage crests inside and/or outside the house.